UK Labour expels ex-Blair spin doctor Alastair Campbell

FILE – In this Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 file photo, Alastair Campbell, the former director of communications and strategy for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair stands on College Green near the Houses of Parliament, in London. One of the best-known figures in Britain’s Labour Party for the last 20 years, Alastair Campbell, says he has been expelled for backing another party in last week’s European election. Campbell became a famous figure as the pugnacious spin doctor to then-Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003. He has criticized the party’s lurch to the left under current leader Jeremy Corbyn and its failure to firmly back a new Brexit referendum. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

LONDON (AP) — One of the best-known figures in Britain’s Labour Party for the last 20 years, Alastair Campbell, says he has been expelled for backing another party in last week’s European Parliament election.

Campbell became a famous figure as the pugnacious spin doctor to then-Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003.

He remains a prominent commentator and has criticized the party’s lurch to the left under current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and its failure to firmly back a new Brexit referendum.

Campbell tweeted Tuesday that “I am and always will be Labour” but that he had voted for the pro-EU Liberal Democrats in the European election “to try to persuade Labour to do right thing for country/party.”

Labour said “support for another political party or candidate is incompatible with party membership.”

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.